15 mars 2011
Reported speech
Tense change
As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):
Direct speech | Indirect speech | |
---|---|---|
Present simple |
› | Past simple She said it was cold. |
Present continuous She said, "I'm teaching English online." |
› | Past continuous She said she was teaching English online. |
Present perfect simple She said, "I've been on the web since 1999." |
› | Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999. |
Present perfect continuous She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years." |
› | Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching English for seven years. |
Past simple She said, "I taught online yesterday." |
› | Past perfect She said she had taught online yesterday. |
Past continuous She said, "I was teaching earlier." |
› | Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching earlier. |
Past perfect She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived." |
› | Past perfect NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived. |
Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes." |
› | Past perfect continuous NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes. |
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